


My Bruise

by Rollinsky



Category: Rise (TV 2018)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-23 15:29:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14335497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rollinsky/pseuds/Rollinsky
Summary: Simon's sophomore year brings a lot of changes to his life, the most impactful being classmate and scene partner Jeremy Travers.aka the story of a heterosexual boy discovering maybe he's not as straight as he thought he was...





	1. Home

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone. I told myself I wouldn't write a fanfic for Rise, but I've become too obsessed with it. Plus I've fell into a DWSA rabbit hole and I love it. To try and release some of feelings (obsessions) for Rise, I figured I would write a fic for Siremy, as there's not nearly enough Rise fan fictions. 
> 
> So enjoy~

“I’m so glad you’re back, Simon,” Lilette says, holding my hand and swinging it back and forth.

I smile and squeeze her hand. “I’m glad to be back.”

I was only at St Francis Prep for a few days, but it was still far too long to be away from Stanton High, a place I’d started to think of as home.

“We should do something to celebrate.”

“No, we really don’t. It’s not that big of a deal.”

She stops walking and faces me. “Simon. I thought you were never coming back and I would spend the rest of high school without you by my side. That’s a big deal.”

I look down and put on a solemn face. “You’re right. Now that your only friend has come back, you don’t need to be alone and friendless throughout school anymore. That’s definitely cause for celebration.”

Lilette sticks out her tongue. “Jerk. I would have been fine, actually. People love me, I can easily make friends. It was you I was worried about.”

I laugh. “Thank for the concern, but I don’t need it. They loved me at that school, they were practically begging me not to leave.”

She raises her eyebrows. “Sure thing, Saunders. I bet they were. Back to the conversation at hand, however, we’re celebrating.”

“Dang, I thought I got away with it.”

“I know you did, but you can’t get one over on me. I was thinking we could throw a party, invite everyone from the musical?”

I frown. That seemed like a terrible idea.

“Don’t you remember what happened last time we had a party? I don’t really want a repeat of that.”

“Yes, but that was different. It only got out of control because the football boys were there as well. Obviously, we wouldn’t invite them to our party.”

“Still, I’m not keen on a party. Sure you’re not using this as an excuse to see Robbie out of school?”

She flushes. “Why would I do that? I already see him all the time during rehearsals. Plus, I’ve seen him outside school anyway. He’s met me at work a couple times to run lines with me.”

I tut and shake my head. “Lilette, seeing him because you’re partners in a musical is different from hanging out with him in a casual setting. Admit it, you want to see Robbie.”

“I guess, yeah, I want to see him. But it’s not just that. We’re all together now, the whole theatre family. It would be great to just spend some time together and have fun. And honestly Simon, I think it would be a good chance for us to bond with everyone else a bit more. Ever since we started this musical together, we’ve kind of clung to our comfort zones a bit too much and only hung out with each other.”

“We’re best friends, what do you expect?”

“I know, but we can still get to know everyone else more. Becoming part of this musical, it feels like a family to me and I really want to continue doing these productions. I just think that will be a lot easier if we befriended everyone. In fact, it might even make our acting better if we feel comfortable with everyone in the scene.”

I grin, she’s so good at manipulating me into doing what she wants.

“You sure know how to appeal to the professional actor in me.”

“Yup, I knew that would interest you. Just look at me and Robbie. We’ve been spending more time together and our scenes have clearly improved, right?”

“That’s because you’ve got a crush on the romantic lead you’re playing opposite of. That’s not going to work with me.”

“Why not? Maybe you should be spending more time with Jeremy,” she says, throwing in a wink at the end.

I ignore her, not even giving her the satisfaction of a reply, and instead direct a bored glare towards her.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding! But I’m not wrong. Jeremy’s new to the club so it’s understandable you don’t know him, but he’s your scene partner. You guys should be friends. And it’s the same for me. I don’t know any of these people, but I would love to. They all seem so lovely.”

She starts counting on her fingers.

“We can have the theatre cast, the band, maybe the lighting guy as well. Also-”

“Where is this happening?” I interrupt. “It can’t happen at my house. In fact, I don’t even think my parents will allow me to go to another party after the last one. They’re starting to think this club is a bad influence on me.”

“Don’t worry, you can sleepover at mine after the party, your parents will be cool with a sleepover. Hmmm, not sure were the party can be, but I’m sure someone will be happy to host.”

She lets go of my hand, skips ahead, and enters the auditorium. I shake my head, a slight grin gracing my lips when I think of how headstrong Lilette can be at times, and hurry to catch up with her.

By the time I’ve reached her, she’s already chatting with a small group consisting of Annabelle, Michael, Clark and Lexi. Lilette never fails to surprise me when she’s talking to new people. She says she doesn’t know the theatre troupe that well, yet she looks so at ease with them, socialising almost looks easy for her. If she hadn’t of confessed to me how shy she feels around the other actors, I never would have known.

 At the sound of my footsteps, Lilette turns around and welcomes me to the group.

“Here he is now! Simon, I was just telling them about our plans for a party. Michael even volunteered his house.”

I look at him with shock. I didn’t expect anyone to actually offer up a house, least of all Michael. We’re all strangers to him.

“Wow, thanks man. That’s pretty cool of you.”

“It’s no big deal. I’m looking forward to it, it should be fun. Just letting you know, it can’t get too crazy, otherwise my mum will never let me have friends round again. So long as no one throws up in my house or breaks anything, it should be fine,” Michael explains.

“Don’t worry, we’re theatre kids. I doubt it will get that crazy.”

“I don’t know about that, Simon. At Robbie’s party, our rendition of ‘Carry On’ was mind-blowing,” Lexi pipes in.

“Damn straight, girl.” Annabelle replies, giving Lexi a high-five.

They giggle together, and Annabelle begins to sing a repeat performance of ‘Carry On’. I’m pleasantly surprised at how good she sounds, although the last time I heard her sing she was drunk, which would explain why my perception of her singing talents was a bit skewered.  Lexi joins in and Lilette sways her arms in the air, cheering them on like a groupie. Their singing begins to attract attention and the other members gather around to see what’s going on. Not wanting people to focus on me, I separate myself from the crowd and talk to Michael.

“Yep, as I suspected, theatre kids are tame. We’ll probably just spend the night singing showtunes.”

“That sounds perfect. It will be nice to sing without being judged on it all the time as well.”

“Yeah, no kidding. Mr Mazzuchelli is a nice enough guy, but he’s very persistent. He’s do anything to get his ‘vision’, even if it means keeping us here all night until the scene is perfect.”

“I’ve been trying to forget those late nights. No one told me that would be part of the criteria of being in a musical when I signed up.”

I pat his shoulder in a reassuring manner. We’ve all been there. My first year was hectic. The leading man dropped out halfway through rehearsals, so I stepped up to take his role, but I had a lot of catching up to do, resulting in me staying late into the night to rehearse with Miss Wolfe. She’s usually a lot more forgiving than Mr Mazzuchelli, but with only a few weeks until opening night, even she was stressing.

Luckily for Spring Awakening, the only person to drop out has been me when I went to St Francis, so nothing too disastrous has happened yet. Usually the rehearsals would be running smooth, but with so many members in lead roles who are new to acting, it’s slowed the process down. Not to mention the musical choice has been getting a lot of bad feedback and reduced funding.

I look over to Mr Mazzuchelli who’s conversing with Miss Wolfe. It looks heated and ends with her walking away from him. He looks disgruntled and walks off as well, towards the stage.

He clears his throat and projects. “Listen up everyone, we’ve got a lot to get through today, so I want to start early. We’ve going to begin with ‘All That’s Known’, so if the boys could get position, that would be great.”

I follow everyone to the set that someone had just finished wheeling in and take my seat next to Michael. It takes a while to get started as Mr Mazzuchelli is communicating back and forth between the band and Maashous, but eventually we begin. I stay focused during the scene, but when it transitions to Robbie’s solo, I daydream. It’s quite nice, and something I was never able to do when I played leads. The pressure is definitely off and allows me to play this role to perfection while still having free time. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still going to audition for the lead in future productions. For now, though, I’m simply happy to be here doing this musical with my best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there it is. Not much happened in this chapter, but I needed to set up a beginning. Also, the next chapter will be the party and I've got a lot planned for that so it couldn't really fit in this chapter, but hopefully this is okay. Next chapter we'll actually get Simon/Jeremy interaction! :)


	2. Put down the alcohol, Simon

The party’s starting soon, the one Lilette insisted was to celebrate my return to Stanton, but really, she just wanted to host a party. I don’t mind though, it was sweet watching her get excited about it. When I arrived at her house to pick her up, she dragged me inside and demanded I help her pick an outfit. I tried to tell her she already looked beautiful in what she was wearing, but she wouldn’t listen to me until she had tried on every outfit that was a ‘contender’. I told her my preference, but that wasn’t good enough. She needed her mum’s opinion as well, who chose the same dress as I did, and it was only then that Lilette seemed satisfied. Eventually, we settled on a black dress covered with stars, silver high heels and a heart shaped locket from her mother. It did look very cute, so I suppose it was worth the wait. Though, it was quite scary to see Lilette act so obsessed with how she looked. I’ve never seen her infatuated with a guy like this before and I’m not sure how I feel about the guy being Robbie Thorne. I barely even know the guy, and I’m Lilette’s best friend. I’m the person who’s supposed to protect her from people who may hurt her. She says he’s a lovely person, but I don’t know if I can believe it. I’ve heard a lot of rumours about him, stuff he’s done with the football team. It’s possible they could all be fake, but it still makes me uncomfortable to see Lilette be this close with him already.

I shake myself out of my thoughts, the satnav’s begun to beep, telling me we’ve arrived at Michael’s street. Michael’s house is easy to spot. He told us if we have trouble finding where he lives, to look out for the second-floor room with a trans pride flag in the window. Sure enough, the flag is there, along with loud pumping pop music coming from the living room. The songs keep changing every few seconds. Apparently, someone can’t make up their mind about what to listen to.  I park my car a few houses down and let Lilette out the car. She steps out and immediately shivers. I don’t feel the cold due to my jacket, but she’s only wearing a dress. Nonetheless, she looks up and smiles.

“Are you excited?”

“I don’t think excitement’s quite what I’m feeling.”

“Oh, c’mon Si. This is the first big party we’ve went to where we like everyone. It’s not going to be like those awkward parties we went to in Freshman year where we hid in the corners to avoid playing games like 7 minutes in heaven with the footballs and cheerleaders.”

I groan, memories of that night causing me to outwardly cringe. “Please, don’t Lilette. I thought we agreed never to bring that night up again?”

She grins an impish smile. “You might have agreed on that, I did no such thing. I wasn’t the one to do anything embarrassing!”

I lightly flick her on the nose. “Don’t speak so soon. We’ve still got to get through tonight, I’m sure it’ll be your turn to be cringy.”

She flicks me on the shoulder and I retaliate by flicking her ear, before quickly knocking on Michael’s door, effectively ending the flick war and declaring myself the winner. I smirk at my victory and hear Lilette huff in mock annoyance.

The door opens to a beaming Michael.

“Hey you guys, come in, make yourselves home.”

We do as he says and shuffle inside.

“Do you want me to take your jacket for you, Simon?”

“Oh, uh, sure. Thanks.”

He goes to hang it up and I call out to him, “Sorry we’re late. It took a bit longer to get ready than we realised.”

He pops his head out from behind the coat rack and responds. “Don’t be sorry. In fact, you’re early.”

I frown. “But you said it started at 9? It’s already half past.”

“Yeah, but most people like to arrive at a party fashionably late, don’t they? You two are actually the first ones here. Except for Maashous, but I asked him to come early so he could help.”

At the sound of his name, Maashous pops his head out from the kitchen and gives a little wave, which Lilette and I return. Michael beckons us to join Maashous and we follow.

I kind of feel guilty about pushing Lilette to get dressed faster now. I didn’t realise we would be the first ones here and therefore suffer through the awkward phase of an empty party. Maashous and Michael are lovely, and obviously I’m happy to spend time with Lilette, but I can’t help but feel shy in this strange new house. Against my better judgement, I reach for one of the pre-mixed drinks and down it at an alarming speed. Cheers rise around me and I feel someone patting me on the back. I swallow the last droplets and slam the glass down on the counter.

“I’m impressed, Simon.” Maashous laughs.

“Damn, Saunders. You really want to get this party started, don’t you?” Lilette says, her eyes blinking with shock.

I shrug off their comments and give a non-committal smile. “Figured we might as well start on the alcohol before everyone else arrives and drinks it all.”

Michael nods in agreement. “I like that spirit. Let’s drink to that.”

He picks up a drink and goes to toast everyone, but pauses to stare at me, “Get another drink Simon. We can’t leave you out of the toast.”

I roll my eyes but comply and join them for another drink.

Originally, I wasn’t going to drink. I’m the designated driver, I’m not allowed to drink. That’s what I tried to tell Lilette when she asked. She didn’t like my answer when I said no and proceeded to beg me to drink instead. Numerous reasons were given, such as I can’t not drink at a party, it’ll be boring if I’m the only sober person, and the main reason being that she didn’t want to get drunk while I’m still sober. She knows I would take advantage of the opportunity and video her so she’ll never be able to forget what she looks like drunk. That just made me want to stay sober even more, but eventually I took pity on her and agreed. She said we can drive up to Michael’s, park the car and get a taxi home once the parties ended. We checked with Michael beforehand as well, and he said it would be fine to leave my car on his street overnight. And honestly, I’m kind of excited to drink. I’ve only ever drank in moderation. I was always worried that if I got drunk and went home to my parents, they would know I’d been drinking and ground me, or something like that. At least this time, I’m going back to Lilette’s house afterwards, and her mum is doing a nightshift, so we don’t need to risk getting in trouble. Not to mention all these drinks are free, so that’s definitely appealing.

We continue drinking and gradually more of the theatre troupe arrive. We all come together to greet them at first, welcoming Jolene, Cheryl, Gwen and Clark. Once the party gets into full swing, however, we disperse and begin talking to new people, allowing Michael to let everyone else in. Michael goes over to Sasha and Maashous chats with Sundeep, leaving me and Lilette by ourselves. We stand at the side, playing a game we made up when we were younger where we imagine the conversations that everyone is having. Lilette points out Gwen and her friend Gordy, prompting me to imagine a soap-like scenario in which Gwen is pregnant and she’s telling a stunned Gordy that he is the father. Lilette snorts at my theatrical re-enactment of their conversation, causing a few people nearby to look over curiously, and we both try to stifle our laughter.

It’s my turn to pick the targets and I discreetly point at Sundeep and Maashous, who seem to be involved in a very passionate discussion.

She clears her throat and speaks in a deep voice. “Maashous, I want to thank you for introducing me to theatre. It means a lot to me.”

Lilette slightly changes the tone of her voice and replies. “No problem Sundeep, I’m glad to be of help.”

I nod along, unsure of where this is going but very interested to see what weird spin Lilette will put on this.

“Not only have I made great friends here, especially that beautiful Lilette girl, but it’s also introduced me to my true love Mr Mazzu. Thank you for allowing our romance to blossom.”

Lilette doesn’t even finish her sentence before my body is creasing and I’m heaving with laughter. The idea of one of us being in a relationship with our teacher is incredibly disturbing. I’m in shock that those words came out of her mouth.

I try to speak, but I’m still in fits of giggles and my words come out breathlessly, my ability to form coherent sentences long gone.

“You are…you’re a douchbag, you know that?”

She slaps a hand to her chest and gasps. “Me? Whatever did I do?”

“You know what you did. You put that horrifying image in my head and I can never forgive you for that. Why would you even think of something like that?”

“I guess I just have an active imagination,” She shrugs, an innocent smile flickering across her face before it’s replaced with a wide ‘o’ and worried eyes.

“Simon! That’s Robbie, Robbie’s here. Oh my god, he’s coming over. Do I look okay? Am I acceptable?”

“You look more than acceptable, you look wonderful. It’ll be fine, don’t panic so much.”

She sends me an appreciative smile before turning her attentions to Robbie.

“Hi Robbie.”

“Hey Lilette. Good to see you. You look nice.”

“Thanks.” She replies bashfully, looking down to hide her reddening face.

Robbie glances at me before saying to Lilette, “You wanna go for a walk with me?”

“Sure!”

She walks away with him, hand in hand. She looks back briefly to smile at my and I give her a thumbs up and half-hearted grin.

Greaaaaaaaat. Now I’m alone. I look around the room, but it seems that everyone has already settled into their friend groups. I’m ready to resign myself to be a wallflower, when I spot Gwen, also alone. I don’t know where her friend’s gone, maybe to the toilet, but it doesn’t matter. I’m just glad to have someone to talk to.

I walk over to Gwen, who smiles when she notices me approaching.

“Hey there, Simon. Long time no see.”

“Is it? We see each other every day for rehearsal.”

“Yeah, but it’s not the same, is it?”

A silent understanding settles between us. We may see each other every day, but it’s different now. This semester, everything has changed. We’re used to playing romantic leads, being in the spotlight and the stars of the show. We spent many evenings together, perfecting our lines and acting. Theatre is something we really care about and I think that shows through our performances. By the time we began our third show, Grease, we didn’t need those extra rehearsals. We’d learnt each other’s style and cues, we complimented each other as partners. That all changed this semester when I was given the role of Hanschen and Gwen was given Ilse.

“No, it’s not. Do you miss it?”

“Yeah, I think I do. Not that I don’t like it this year, it’s great having new people. But we had our fun, didn’t we?”

“Especially when we tried to spread the rumour that were together. We would enter a room and people would instantly shut up, they were obviously talking about us. We kept that up for at least a year.”

“And we would’ve kept it up for even longer if you didn’t go on that date with Annabelle. A year’s work of rumours, wasted. I’ll forgive you though, Annabelle is a lovely girl. How was that date of yours, by the way?”

I feel my face burning up and I desperately pray that Gwen can’t see how embarrassed she’s made me. I hate talking about personal things. I take a gulp of my drink for some dutch courage.

“It, er, went pretty well. We went to-”

“Listen up people!”

We’re interrupted by Jolene, now standing on a table and waving her arms to get everyone’s attention.

“We need to liven this party up with some drinking games. I’m thinking truth or dare, who’s with me?”

Cheers surround her, supporting her decision. I cheer with everyone else, but inside I’m freaking out. I’ve never played truth or dare, but I’ve seen it enough in movies to know I hate the game. It either ends with someone getting humiliated, people being sexual, and illegal activity. None of them sound particularly appealing to me. Nevertheless, everyone else is joining in so I guess I need to as well.

I follow Gwen to the quickly evolving circle and sit next to her. I feel someone else sit down next to me and I look to see Jeremy. He smiles at me and I greet him.

“Hi Jeremy. Glad you made it. When did you get here? I haven’t seen you at all during the party.”

He scratches behind his ear and grimaces. “I only got here about fifteen minutes ago. I had some trouble getting out the house. My mum wanted me to stay in and look after the dog while she went to her bingo night. I tried to tell her I already had plans, but she didn’t care and left anyway. Luckily, my brother said he could take care of the dog when I texted him, so I was finally able to escape. Seems I’ve missed quite a bit of the party already though. Your cheeks are really red, how much have you been drinking?” He laughs.

I didn’t think I had drank that much, but I suppose I don’t drink often. It’s rare I’m invited to parties with alcohol, so it probably has a bigger effect on me. I try to sit up straight and act sober when replying to Jeremy. Of course, as soon as you need to tell yourself to ‘act sober’, you’ve already failed.

“I haven’t drunk that much.”

He scoffs.

“Okay, okay. Maybe I’ve drunk a bit. But that’s only because I was the first one here, so I’ve had more time to drink than anyone else. It won’t be long before someone puts a drink in your hands and you’ll be as drunk as I am, or worse. Then it’s my turn to judge you.”

He holds up a glass of clear liquid and says with a smug smile. “Keep dreaming buddy. I’m designated driver, only water for me tonight.”

I stick my tongue out in disgust. “Boo, you whore.”

He looks taken aback. “Did you really just quote Mean Girls to me?”

“Yes, and before you say anything, it’s a masterpiece. It’s not a girl’s film, that script is genius and deserves to be appreciated by everyone.”

He shakes his head. “You continue to surprise me, Simon.”

I’m not sure what he means by that. Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult? I brush the comment aside in favour of listening to Jolene, who has begun to explain the rules.

“Listen up, losers! We’re going to play truth or dare. I’m assuming everyone knows how to play, if you don’t, why not? Also, because we need to add some spice to this lame party, no offense Michael, we’re going to make it drinking truth or dare. That means if you don’t want to do a truth or a dare, you drink. But you can only do this once every other turn. This is so we don’t end up with a bunch of pussies who refuse everything we ask them and end up passed out on the floor. For example, if someone asks you what’s your biggest secret, you can refuse and drink. But if on your next turn, someone dares you to streak, you HAVE to do it.”

Maashous puts his hand up. “How are you going to enforce these rules? If someone says no, you can’t force them to do it.

Jolene smiles sweetly but her eyes are screaming murder. “I’m glad you asked Maashous. I’ll tell you how we’re going to enforce these rules. Before we play, everyone will give me their phones unlocked, so if a time comes where they refuse a truth or dare, I get free reign to do whatever I want on their phones. Remember that.”

Maashous audibly gulps and I relate. I do not want to be on the receiving end of Jolene’s sadism.

She jumps down from her table and claps her hands.

“Right! Who wants to start?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! I posted a chapter! I was planning on this being longer, but honestly, I just wanted to get it posted and out of the way. I needed to stop using this as an excuse to procrastinate assignments :S
> 
> Hope you liked it! Jeremy finally made an appearance, woo! Next chapter should be a good one, the troupe will get up to a lot of shenanigans and some drama will be going on. There'll also be some quality Simon/Jeremy content. Hope you'll stick around, thanks for reading :)


End file.
